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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Jason Pominville's Contract Extension

Pominville should be staying in Minnesota past this season

Now that the free agent frenzy has settled down, its time to take a look at what's left to do for the Wild this offseason. Since their roster is pretty much set in stone (except for maybe the fourth line), one move Chuck Fletcher still has yet to make is sign Jason Pominville to a contract extension.

Pominville came over at the trade deadline this past season from Buffalo. They gave up quite the ransom for his services as he was acquired for Johan Larsson, Matt Hackett, the club's first round pick in 2013, and its second round pick in 2014.

In 10 regular season games with the Wild, Pominville scored four goals and added five assists before missing the final two games with a concussion. He also missed the first three games of the postseason with the concussion before returning for the final two games. His minutes in those games were limited and he was not much of a factor, but don't let those games discourage you from how good he really was.

During those 10 games, Pominville was the offensive force the Wild wanted when they acquired him. He was a spark on a offense that had become rather lifeless. If you go back and watch any of those games, you will also find him to be pretty responsible defensively as well. He buzzes around the puck no matter where it is and can make something happen at any given moment.

Pominville will be 31 in November, and his contract is set to expire after the 2013-14 season. The team would be better off to lock him into an extension now and not let it drag on during the regular season.

Right now he is projected to be back on the top line with Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu, the line where he did most of his damage before being shuffled around in the final couple of games in 2012-13. So should he be on that line for a significant amount of time next year, his production should be very similar to his 10 game stint in the previous season.

Its a bold risk to lock a player into a long term extension after only playing a small amount of games in the previous season. But this is a risk the Wild need to take. They need Jason Pominville. They are better with him and they should hold on to him for another five or six seasons.